Within your post, you write on how video games are not just code anymore; you state “Instead, a 3D modeling artist will create a polygonal character model for use in the game world.. a game world which is also composed of art assets coming from modelers and texture artists.” I agree with you on this! Video games are no longer just code, it is a work of art that deals with creating 3D models, music, etc. You also had written that, “…many games don’t pull it off effectively enough for the game to stay interesting over a long period of time;” this is true. Many video games are so long and lengthy that many players get tired of the game, and sometimes just go on to the next new game that comes out. Video games have endless possibilities, and with the amount of video games that are out there in today’s world, will the creators of these games run out of ideas? Will they create new games that intrigue the youth of the today? As you title your post, you are right on that there are “endless possibilities.”

The videogame, Grand Theft Auto, has been a controversial game since 1997. This game is involves violence, killing, stealing, etc. So, why do so many people love the game? Why is it such a popular game? The new Grand Theft Auto video game just released its new version this past month. The game itself made $800 million the first day of its release.

Time magazine’s journalist Nick Gillespie states in their WordPress, “But are video games art? The short – and long – answer is yes. While it’s impossible to categorize all games easily (just as it is impossible to categorize all fiction, let along writing), there’s no question that gaming is a thriving form of participatory creative expression” (Gillespie). The game itself is a piece of art, and so are other video games, but from my experience in watching people play it, the details and the people within the game seem so real and alive. The driving, the running of the player, and the specific detail of the place it takes set puts the player in a different realm, in which the player then gets so into the game, that they lose all track of time. Even though this video game is full of violence, people keep playing it and buying it.

So why do we love this game that’s full of inappropriate language, killing, and stealing? Why do people play this game 24/7? Why did this game make more money than some movies in the box office? Because people can fall into the realm where they are someone else, and they can do anything they want; they can become their own “actor,” and from this, the player becomes something they’ve always wanted to be.

From the article, Video Games and Computer Holding Power, written by Sherry Turkle, video games are controlling the minds of those who play them constantly. Those who play video games, from my experience, become a different person while they are playing their imaginary world on the TV screen, or even on their hand-held devices, such as the Nintendo DS. Video games make the player fall into a different world, where if someone interrupts their time while playing their video games, they become distraught and even angry. For some people, video games are an escape into a realm where they become something they’ve always dreamed of being, doing things they always wanted and can’t do in real life, and become one with the game. Turkle states, “In a video game there is no place to hide, no excuses of chance or accident. For someone like David, searching for the sense of urgency that comes from real danger, this is crucial to the games’ seduction. It is a place where there is “pure you” (Turkle 512). Just like David in this scenario, some people are so engulfed within their video games that they only feel alive when playing their video games.

Video games can be either bad or good for those who play them; Turkle also writes, “With them can come an enhanced sense of autonomy, self- esteem, a sense of being the “actor” in one’s life. But with every powerful and manipulable medium that we use to feel more in control—our bodies, our money, our games—the medium can get out of control” (Turkle 512). For some of us, video games are the only aspect of life that keeps us going; with video games, especially for those with disabilities and social disorders, video games can make a person feel as though they are truly alive, and “pure” within the game. Video games can take the mind away from all that one experiences in a day. Video games can be the one factor in a person’s life that makes them want to live, and for others, video games are not important, but just a part of life that they only have to experience once.

Video games are the outlet in many people’s lives around the world, and with these video games, one can go on and say that they feel that “pureness” of life because of them living through their video games, while others don’t even think twice about video games. Overall, video games can either be a good or bad influence on the person who plays the video game.

To start off, I agree with you that computers are a great invention in the world today; computers can make us lazy, but they still bring a whole other level of knowledge that we do not have within the human brain. With education, I believe that you brought up a very touchy subject of how computers could better teaching the students that are elementary through college. You say, “Man needs to take into consideration that computers are more advanced, and because of that they can be a major help in bettering our education system;” I concur with your statement because computers could absolutely help the students of today’s world, and with computers, teachers and students can learn more and more than they would have years ago. With the technology that we have today, I believe and agree with you that it will better the learning in education across the world.

For my computer literacy narrative, I decided to talk about my dad, and how he and my family helped become computer literate. I made a video in order to get my message across that my dad, and his computer literacy was the jump for me to become computer literate. With his love of computers, and my love for learning with computers, I was able to create this video in order to show how much I appreciate all that he and my family have done for me in order for myself to be where I am now with my computer literacy. With my video, I was able to upload it to iMovie on my MacBook, and create a video for my friends, family, and for the students in my class to watch, which I then compressed the video to a .mov, and then uploaded it to YouTube. I hope you will enjoy my video!

Researchers are now trying to use Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) to help students be more computer literate. The researchers within the paper, The Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Instruction in Teaching IntroductoryStatistics, written by Ramazan Basturk, Ph.D. and other scientists expressed that this will help students with the “real world.” To me, I think this will help students with computers, and help them with working with computers to become computer literate. In this day and age, one must be computer literate in order to survive in their future. With the new technologies coming every year, students will be able to experience, and learn how to use the computer in different ways for them to succeed in the “real world.”

This paper is about teaching students to use computers for a statistics course within their school; with using CAI, the students would have a better understanding of how to use the computer while learning statistics. From students learning to do statistics on the computer, they would do a better job with that class, and also take the skills they have learned, become computer literate, and have a good grade with their statistics class.

Within the article, Computer Lib, written by Theodor H. Nelson states, “Computers are not everything, they are just an aspect of everything, and not to know this is computer illiteracy, a silly and dangerous ignorance” (Nelson 303). Nelson believes that there is no one simple way, person, or program that can teach a person to be computer literate. Is this true? Are computers that easy to learn, or are is my generation just born to be computer literate from the time we were children until now? He says, “everyone should understand computers” (Nelson 303). Should everyone understand computers in this day and age? For me, I think he is right on this topic. I think everyone know should have some kind of computer literacy within their minds. Computers are taking over the world, and with this, everything is practically computer based. From Nelson’s other article, Dream Machines, “we live in media, as fish live in water” (Nelson 306); we are in a world that has entranced with new media, computers, and the newest technologies. Like a fish in water, we breathe, eat, and live new media. Without new media, would we be the people we are? How would we survive without new media? Would we diminish just like a fish can’t live without water?

Nelson also writes, “Technology is an expression of man’s dreams. If man did not indulge his fantasies, his thoughts alone would inhibit the development of technology itself” (Nelson 307). Our dreams and imagination of what could be is here now, and it is developing every year, or even every month. The dreams we have are coming alive because of technology, and its innovations. Without dreaming and creating, we would not be where we are now. Dreaming is a huge gift we have, and with it, we have made the world what it is now, and it is still is changing with the dreams we come up with. Without dreams, where would the world and the people in it be right now? We have the freedom to dream and to express these dreams.

Nelson also writes from his article, No More Teacher’s Dirty Looks, “Computers offer us the first real chance to let the human mind grow to its full potential, as it cannot within the stifling and insulting setting of existing school systems ” (Nelson 311); “Let the student pick what he wishes to study next, decide when he wishes to be tested, and give him a variety of interesting materials, events and opportunities” (Nelson 313). If the student cannot express their dreams, and their wants of what to learn, then how are they going to learn and be happy about learning? Nelson is right about letting students have the freedom to learn what they want to learn about; having students wanting to learn is something that a teacher cherishes forever, and once the student has that epiphany within themselves, this is the gift of teaching, and this is what makes the difference within the student’s mind, body, and soul. The student wants to learn, and with that want to learn, the student will succeed.

From all of this, we are like fish in water; we are surrounded by new media, and we wouldn’t survive without it. Dreams create new technologies and innovations; without dreams we are nothing, without new media we would not be who we are today, and with students being able to dream and learn, the world and the people in it will succeed.